The State of Apple

by Da'Von B.

Well…the house that Jobs built has released their Q3 earnings today (remember this isn’t a holiday quarter and no new iPhone was released this summer)…here’s a rundown:

iPhone sales = 20.34 Million +142% from a year ago quarter “PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.” -Ed Colligan Former Palm CEO *Palm was sold to HP in 2010*

iPad sales = 9.25 Million +183% from a year ago quarter “Apple will sell 2 million units in 2010, and up to 6 million iPads in 2011.” -Charlie Wolf Needham Company Analyst *28.7 Million iPads sold to date*

Mac sales = 3.95 Million +14% from a year ago quarter “What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders,” Michael Dell CEO of Dell *Mac sales growth outpaces overall PC Industry*

iPod sales = 7.54 Million -10% from a year ago quarter “What I can’t figure out, is why he (Steve Jobs) is even trying (to be the CEO of Apple)? He knows he can’t win.” *In 1998 Microsoft Market Cap was $250 Billion Apple was $6 Billion today is a different story* **The Microsoft Zune is no longer available**

In a nutshell, Apple’s done pretty good for themselves (understatement of the year I’m sure). All in all people from many sectors of the tech industry and business world have written off Apple…as many continue to do so today. But after looking at their current financial results, current crop of products, the eventual 2011 iPhone (because calling it any other name at this point is ridiculous) potentially ending up on all US Carriers, and other products that Apple will NEVER discuss before they’re released, it’s probably time for pundits to take a step back look at the overall picture of what’s happened with Apple in the last 10 years and simply write “I was wrong”. And to end the earnings call a gem of a quote from Peter Openhiemier CFO “We have some neat stuff coming”.